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Four of the five highest-paid employees at B.C.’s universities and colleges work at just one institution: the University of B.C., according to The Vancouver Sun’s exclusive database of public-sector salaries.

According to The Sun’s fifth annual salary database, UBC president Stephen Toope is the highest-paid post-secondary employee in the province with total remuneration of $531,088 in 2011-12. Toope’s salary went up slightly from 2010-11, when he made $528,504 and also topped the list of post-secondary employees. Toope announced Wednesday that he would be stepping down from his post next June.

After Toope, the next three highest-paid post-secondary employees also work at UBC: dean of medicine Gavin Stuart at $499,150, radiology professor Francois Benard at $475,544, and business professor Dan Skarlicki at $435,847.

The only non-UBC employee in the top five is University of Victoria president David Turpin, who made $430,760.

And UBC’s generous compensation extends beyond the top five list.

Of the 100 highest-earning individuals in the entire database, 13 work for UBC, the third most of any agency after the Provincial Health Services Authority at 25 and Powerex, BC Hydro’s energy-trading arm, at 16.

Linda McKnight, director of human resources for UBC, wrote in an email that the university — with its 55,000 students and nearly 14,000 faculty and staff — needs to pay top dollar to compete with other universities.

“The compensation packages we provide our top leaders and faculty need to be attractive because we compete for top talent with other top ranked universities around the world,” she wrote. “While our packages may be higher than other B.C. universities, they are often lower than our Canadian comparators such as the University of Toronto.”

The Sun’s database includes remuneration information for 25 universities and colleges across B.C.

There are a total of 11,891 university and college employees in this year’s salary database. To see them all, click here.

In 2008, The Sun launched B.C.’s first searchable online database of public-sector salaries.

The database, which includes public servants who earn more than $75,000, has been enormously popular, registering more than 10 million page views.

The new database, available at vancouversun.com/pay/, includes pay for more than 70,000 public servants working at 109 separate public-sector agencies including Crown corporations, health authorities, municipalities and universities.

The remuneration information obtained by The Sun includes the total amount paid to each employee, including base salary but also any overtime, vacation payouts or severance received.

Depending on the agency, the information in the new database covers either the 2011 calendar year or the 2011-12 fiscal year.

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UBC dominates B.C. university salary rankings

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